On Human Rights Day, PHR highlighted the need for the U.S. government to address several pressing issues in order to protect fundamental freedoms and promote the United States’ position as a beacon for human rights.

Until hours before the Boston woman delivered her baby, not one of her physicians had noticed she had been the victim of genital cutting. The account comes from Jillian M. Tuck, J.D., who manages a national program at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) to provide forensic medical evaluations for people seeking asylum.

Asylum Network volunteer Dr. Vosk discusses the role coincidence plays in keeping asylum seekers alive, his method of assessing trauma via an individual’s scars, and the difficulties people face when seeking refuge in the US, where “fearfulness and rejection of immigrants have become an accepted part of national policy.”